No hands on deck in Benghazi: Column

May 7, 2013
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Damaged U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. / Mohammad Hannon, AP

by David A. Andelman, USA TODAY

by David A. Andelman, USA TODAY

The last time the State Department had an inspector general, George W. Bush was president and Condoleezza Rice was secretary of State. That was five years and four months ago, when Howard J. Krongard left office.

It's also the longest break without an inspector general since the office was created as the watchdog of American diplomacy and diplomats back in 1906. Since then, we've been through two world wars, not to mention wars in Korea and Vietnam, a Cold War, two invasions of Iraq and one of Afghanistan, and no end of terrorist confrontations and diplomatic imbroglios.

Why should we even care? A list of those who've held this office reveals a succession of largely faceless individuals -- hardly the boldfaced names of international affairs or American politics. But we should care -- deeply. Because basically it's this nameless, faceless bureaucrat who is charged with maintaining the security and the honesty of the United States and its image around the world.

Yet, for the most part, with a few brief hiatuses, there's always been an independent IG to keep everyone honest.

On Wednesday, at least a small part of this process is coming into close scrutiny as the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee holds public hearings into the massacre of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi, Libya, last September 11. Republicans, led by committee Chairman Darrell Issa of California, believe it was known from the start that the attack was planned and conducted by terrorists, rather than a spontaneous demonstration over an anti-Islamic video on the Internet that got out of hand.

The administration, including President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, are accused of bungling it from the beginning by failing to respond to pleas from the scene for more security resources. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice then compounded the error by promptly proclaiming the demonstration theory on Sunday talk shows, Republicans have alleged.

Now, the highest-ranking U.S. diplomat in Libya Gregory Hicks, Stephens' former deputy chief of mission, and Eric Nordstrom, diplomatic security officer and former regional security officer in Libya, are expected to add damaging testimony confirming that view. Nordstrom testified before Issa's committee last October that the pleas from himself, Ambassador Stevens and several others for enhanced security at the Benghazi facility were vetoed by the State Department.

The issue goes even deeper, however, revealing even more fissures in the entire system of protection of American diplomatic interests abroad.

For the rejection for more protection in Benghazi came from Charlene Lamb, the deputy assistant secretary for diplomatic security. This office reports to Under Secretary of State for Management Patrick F. Kennedy. And they are all overseen by the inspector general. Only there wasn't one then, or now. Indeed, this seems to be more a case not of someone asleep at the switch, but no one at the switch from the get-go.s

As the IG's own website puts it, the office "inspects each of the approximately 260 embassies, diplomatic posts and international broadcasting installations throughout the world to determine whether policy goals are being achieved and whether the interests of the United States are being represented and advanced effectively.

"Additionally, OIG performs specialized security inspections and audits in support of the department's mission to provide effective protection to our personnel, facilities and sensitive information. OIG also audits department and BBG operations and activities to ensure that they are as effective, efficient and economical as possible. Finally, OIG investigates instances of fraud, waste and mismanagement that may constitute either criminal wrongdoing or violations."

Pretty heady stuff. But most immediately, what an effective IG might have done is to make sure that American diplomats and spies using the consular facilities in Benghazi weren't massacred -- that the pleas from Ambassador Hicks and the late Ambassador Stephens were neither downplayed nor dismissed.

Today, however, there are even more layers. On March 28, the IG's office opened its own probe of an Accountability Review Board's examination of the security lapses before, during and after the actual Benghazi attack. But the IG's office is itself headed by a career foreign service officer, Harold Geisel, serving in an interim capacity, appointed by the secretary of State (not the president) and never confirmed by the Senate -- which raises at least a suggestion of yet another case of State investigating his own.

Peel back the onion and there are even more layers. It seems that Geisel, Kennedy and a third Foreign Service officer Richard Shinnick all came up through the same "cone" -- the management function at State. All are Foreign Service officers, present or former, and all have had some involvement with Benghazi or its aftermath. Shinnick was named a member of the Accountability Review Board, which Geisel and the IG's office are now investigating.

And all of this at least has the appearance of being a direct violation of the Foreign Service Act of 1980, which precludes any Foreign Service officer from ever serving as an IG. Yet for five years, State has managed to circumvent that law.

Without a fully independent IG, and with a Republican-controlled hearing opening on Wednesday, there remains the likelihood that a truly independent investigation of the entire matter may still prove elusive.

David A. Andelman is the editor in chief of World Policy Journal and author of A Shattered Peace: Versailles 1919 and the Price We Pay Today.

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